Aug
25
Today is national “thank a mailman day” (if you believe what the internet tells you). I don’t know about you but I’ve always been pretty impressed with the mailpeople that I’ve encountered in the various places that I’ve lived, and that commercial that they ran after September 11th, while they were dealing with anthrax threats and all that, still vowed, “We are mothers and fathers. And sons and daughters. Who every day go about our lives with duty, honor and pride. And neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. Ever.”
And I feel like every mailman or mailwoman I’ve encountered is pretty awesome and lives by this. I mean, when’s the last time you didn’t get your mail on a Monday-Saturday? Even during a snowstorm?
When I was young, I lived out in the sticks of Massachusetts. The mailman I grew up with didn’t walk to each house in those blue short-shorts or anything, because it would have taken him all day to deliver to one neighborhood, since the houses were so far apart. However, one thing I always liked (even as a kid, cause I sent letters often) is that he would always pay your postage, even if you didn’t use enough stamps. He’d leave a little note to let you know, but he never left it in your box. The mail always got where it was supposed to go.
Patrick’s old mailman was walker. He parks somewhere around the neighborhood and hand-delivers the mail to everyone’s mailboxes, which in his old neighborhood, are affixed to the sides of their houses. You have to wonder when the Post Office will require people to cut the mailpeople some slack and throw a mailbox on the curb, but until then he’s out there walking door to door.
So, you know the drill. Today’s resolution is to thank your mailman. If you’re not around during the day to catch him, maybe leave him a note, a bag of cookies, a coffee gift card or something else that’s nice. A thank-you post-it is fine! They can’t accept cash or booze, so stick so the simple tokens of gratitude.
Happy card-making!
– Amanda
